Mounting tires to wheels is challenging work, especially when done without the assistance of powered machinery. An especially difficult step in mounting a tire is getting both tire beads of the tire over the rim of the wheel. The rim has a larger diameter than each of the tire beads on a tire, so the tire must be stretched to fit each bead over the rim. Because of the shape of tires, getting the first bead over the rim is considerably easier than getting the second bead over the rim. Oftentimes, when attempting to mount the second bead of a tire over the rim of a wheel, the tire bead will slip back over the rim as the person mounting the tire attempts to pry more of the tire bead over the rim. To prevent the second bead from slipping back over the rim, tools are often used to hold one portion of the bead under the rim and to prevent that portion of the bead from slipping back up and over the rim as the tire is mounted over the rest of the rim onto the wheel. Various tools have been used for this purpose, including pry bars, but specialty tools known as bead holders have been developed for mounting tires and holding the bead over the rim.
Prior art bead holders, especially those used for steel wheels, include clamping devices that engage the rim of a wheel on both the hub side and the well side of the wheel. The hub side of the wheel is the central portion of the wheel to which the axle is connected. The well side of the wheel is the outer circumference of the wheel between the inner and outer rims of the wheel. Typical prior art bead holders include a pair of clamping flanges extending from a bulbous head portion that is constructed in a shape and size large enough to prevent the bead of the tire from slipping over it as well as the rim of the wheel and a handle for positioning the bead holder over the rim of the wheel. The handle may be used to help remove the bead holder from the rim once the tire has been successfully mounted onto the wheel. Although some may think otherwise, these bead holders were not designed to pry the bead over the rim and are not effective for doing so.
Disadvantageously, because these prior art bead holders must engage both the hub side and the well side of a rim of a wheel, they cannot be used on certain wheels where the hub protrudes beyond the rim or where there is no recess on the well side of the rim for the bead holder to engage. That is, if the hub protrudes beyond the rim, then there is no recess for the hub-side clamping flange of the prior art bead holder to engage, allowing for that flange to slide off the rim and disengaging the bead holder from the wheel. Likewise, if the well side of the wheel does not have a recess near the rim, then the well-side clamping flange of the prior art bead holder has nothing to engage, thereby allowing for that flange to slide off the rim and disengage the bead holder from the wheel. There are actually several types of wheels currently on the market where the hub protrudes from the rim or where there is no recess on the well side of the rim.
For example, 19.5-inch aluminum wheels have become increasingly popular for certain light- to medium-duty vehicles, but the prior art bead holders cannot be used when mounting a tire onto these wheels. On these 19.5 inch aluminum wheels, the hub protrudes beyond the rim and there is nothing on the well side for prior art bead holders to engage, so prior art bead holders are not useful for installing tires onto these wheels.
Accordingly, a need exists in the art for an improved bead holder that may be used for mounting tires onto wheels, including those wheels that either have hubs that protrude beyond the rims of the wheels, or do not have well side recesses for allowing engagement of the bead holder to that side of the wheel. 19.5-inch aluminum wheels are but one example of such wheels.